ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION FROM THE PHENOMENOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE OF EXPERIENCE AND BELONGING

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the contributions of phenomenology to environmental education, with an emphasis on the notions of experience and belonging as foundations for a more sensitive, ethical, and life-affirming pedagogical practice. The research adopts a qualitative and bibliographical approach, in accordance with the methodological principles described by Lakatos and Marconi (2017), and is structured as a state-of-the-art, identifying academic productions that articulate environmental education with the phenomenology of perception. Based on the contributions of authors such as Husserl (2006), Merleau-Ponty (1971), Marin (2009), Oliveira (2006), and Ribeiro (2009), the investigation demonstrates that phenomenology opposes abstract rationalism and the fragmentation between subject and world, proposing a return to the lived experience, corporeality, and sensitivity as legitimate avenues of knowledge. The results indicate that environmental perception is not only achieved through concepts, but through embodied experiences that predate language and foster an affective bond with nature. Reflecting on this sense of belonging is essential to redefining the role of education in the face of contemporary socio-environmental crises. The conclusion is that phenomenology, by emphasizing direct experience and bodily engagement with the environment, contributes to a transformative environmental education, structured not only by information but also by the individual's existential engagement with the natural world.